It is that thing we really don’t like talking about. Period. There are lots of silly names for it: Aunt Flo, Cousin Red, ‘have the painters in’, ‘in her flowers’, on the rag, ride the cotton pony, surf the crimson wave, that time of the month and this one ‘woman troubles’ is a particularly accurate description if you are a woman and you are homeless.   What do you do when you have to choose between a meal and tampons?

I discovered an amazing and new project helping Victorian women who are homeless; the Melbourne Period Project and I would love to share it with you.

It was co-founded by two amazing women, Donna and Natalie only last month, June 2015.

Natalie was previously homeless and had first hand experience of being without sanitary products and had to use folded up toilet paper and socks in substitute for pads/tampons. She vowed once she was out of that situation she would make sure that this wouldn’t happen to anyone still living on the streets. (Read about other inconceivable ways women deal with their periods worldwide via this Huffington Post article).

Natalie reached out to Donna, who runs not for profit organisation Blanket Melbourne (who incredibly, have had so much support in the lead up to this winter, that they are temporarily closed – AMAZING!). Donna got on board straight away as this was something she had been wanting to do for a while, and the Melbourne Period Project was born.

The Melbourne Period Project rely solely on community donations and provide sanitary products to women who are homeless. They work with many organisations across Victoria to distribute sanitary products to women in need.

There are over 100 drop off points across Victoria. You can email Melbourne Period Project direct to get the details or their postal address.

To fing out more, visit the Melbourne Period Project website, follow on facebook or twitter., and make sure you share this post with your friends in Victoria.

There are similar projects in other states also:

Every Little Bit Helps – Sydney

Making a Difference Brisbane

Essentials for Women of Perth

Gold Coast Secret Women’s Business

Essentials 4 Women Adelaide

Wings and Strings (Newcastle and Hunter region)

Why not start a collection, and ask around your friendship group for contributions.  Buy an extra box of tampons or pads in your next supermarket shop.  You know this will make a difference in the most sisterly way.

Thanks for reading!